My BMW E39 528i touring

[GTSBoy]

You don't have to be bored driving a Camry. Not based on the way that a couple of f**king Ubereats/Didi/othersortofmethaddlednightshiftattheservicestationrecentimmmigrants were piloting them on the way to work this morning. f**k me dead!

[joshuaho96]

3 hours ago, soviet_merlin said:

It's flawless.

(Except for major maintenance bill that non-car people would feel salty about for years afterwards)

Just kidding. Life's too short to be bored driving a Camry.

Honestly, for a daily I would gladly rock a Camry. The more disposable the better. People drive horribly out here and road conditions are awful.

[PranK]

Ok, so first round of maintenance done. I didn't get much history with the car but I know it was well looked after. That isn't enough for me though, so ... 

I had to do the oil filter housing gasket. It was leaking a lot, and also as part of that I did the anti-return valve and the VANOS oil line (from HEL). 

But, then I got hit with the while-ya-in-there's.

Did both accessory and A/C belts, tensioners and pulley. The accessory belt that came off had a huge hole in it, like somebody hung it up with a nail. The pulley and tensioners seem ok, so I'll keep those just in case.

I did water pump and pump pulley. The water pump had a small bit of play so timing was good. 

I also did fan clutch. I don't know how to test the old one but between the water pump and the fan clutch the car is running a little bit cooler (not much ~2 - 3 degrees maybe) so good result.

Unfortunately the thermostat and housing didn't turn up in time so I'll shelve those. I have no concerns at all on the current ones. 

Then I spent what seemed like 40 days and 40 nights bleeding the air from the cooling system.

She also got new air filter, fuel filter and did a Mobil 1 change with oil filter.

Hilariously, not an hour after telling my wife how proud I was of myself to be going slowly and meticulously and making sure everything was torqued and nothing missing I went and started it without the oil filter in. The car complained immediately of no pressure and after only a few seconds I turned it off and discovered a shit tonne of oil on the driveway. Sigh. I've driven it since and thankfully doesn't seem to be any problems.

AND THEN during the test drive a ratchet extension fell into the battery area in the boot and JAMMED right next to the positive terminal and the car body. Like, just touching it made sparks and it was jammed in there.

So, almost killed the engine and then almost burned the car to a crisp. Good start.

This was the rails under the splash guards. So stoked, she's straight as and super clean. No rust anywhere. There was a heap of caked dirt that I removed but otherwise looked great. All 4 jacking points are perfect.

 

Next I want to service the gearbox. Sometimes it's a little reluctant to shift up and I'm hoping a fluid change will sort it.

I also have 4 new rear subframe bushes. They're as big as a toddler. I'm renting a tool to help put them in. I can't wait for this because its a bit crashy back there at the moment.

 

[PranK]

Oh and I got myself a grandpa spec dash mat.

 

[PranK]

That's not a bushing!

 

[GTSBoy]

28 minutes ago, PranK said:

That's not a bushing!

 

 

That's the bottom half of something I saw in a Sasha Grey video once.

[PranK]

4 minutes ago, GTSBoy said:

That's the bottom half of something I saw in a Sasha Grey video once.

SAU is G rated!

[GTSBoy]

26 minutes ago, PranK said:

SAU is G rated!

G for Grey. I understand.

[niZmO_Man]

On 08/04/2025 at 6:11 PM, GTSBoy said:

That's the bottom half of something I saw in a Sasha Grey video once.

Isn't she a cooking streamer?

[PranK]

Bushings are almost done.

Check the date stamp 😂 these are likely the original bushings with 27 years and 243ks on them.

 

 

Was too dark to get a pic of the worst one.

[PranK]

Oh and my rear arms may need some attention too.

 

 

[MBS206]

On 4/8/2025 at 5:39 PM, PranK said:

Oh and I got myself a grandpa spec dash mat.

 

Not going to lie. When I just saw this, for a moment I thought it was an interior shot of a VN Commodore...

[PranK]

2 hours ago, MBS206 said:

Not going to lie. When I just saw this, for a moment I thought it was an interior shot of a VN Commodore...

I'd much prefer you lied in future pls.

[PranK]

Massive ups for MTHire also. Could not have done the subframe bushings job without hiring the tool from them. Process was super easy and cost me around 25% of the cost of the tool. If you need a tool to do a one-time job, check them out. (Paid for the rental myself, no sponsorship here.)

 

[PranK]

A pretty cool little feature discovered while restoring my seats. 

 

 

[PranK]

Some updates here.

I pulled the entire interior out, minus some trim to respray the seats with Colourlock dye. It turned out really nice though I accidentally let the dog in the car after and she scratched up the front seat. 

This is what it looked like before, the colour was just washing out everywhere but thankfully the leather was in good nic.

Then after the respray

 

And after the bloody dog jumped in

The headliner is out waiting to be retrimmed, but it will stay out now until Nov - see why below.

I replaced the stereo/headunit with a period-styled Android headunit. I have no after pics, but I'll get some. This is because of the missing pixels. I tried to fix this twice with replacement ribbon cables but couldn't. Also the bluetooth interface I'd bought for this was crap.

Then there's the rusty roof. Pics and info in this other thread. I have decided to get this repaired professionally, but I'll update that thread. This is why the headliner will stay out for now.

I'll be getting the roof and bonnet resprayed at the same time the rust is fixed.

I also had an interesting issue with my drivers door lock. 

For a small period I was having issues getting any 12v power to the car - I mean *any*. It would have no dash lights, nothing. It happened while I was at the shops and I couldn't get in the car.

So, we had 2 problems. The most pressing here is that I was locked out. I have only a single physical key hole on the car, the drivers door and no amount of turning would unlock the car. Surely it doesn't need power for this?

The second issue is why am I losing all power periodically, The battery isn't dead, its almost like the battery isn't even there.

Two issues that were surprisingly easy to fix. You fellow BMW over-engineering lovers will appreciate this. The lock in the door has 5 states; mechanical lock, electric lock, neutral, electric unlock, mechanical unlock achieved at -90 degrees, -45 degrees, 0 degrees, 45 degrees and 90 degrees. Although, the unlock is towards the front of the car, so opposite for LHD countries.

Sticking the key in and turning 45 left or right is what is used 99% of the time. It activates the central locking etc. 90 degrees is for dead battery access and, obvs, only un/locks the one door. But because the mechanical lock is never used and is 27 years old, it seizes up. I was totally unable to turn the key far enough to get to the mechanical unlock (At the time of locking myself out, I didn't even know this was a thing). I eventually did it with some vicegrips and teflon spray. 

I made a quick vid for other E39 peeps.

 

The battery issue is totally new to me also - It wasn't making sufficient contact between the post and the terminal. The terminal was bolted on tight, but the car wouldn't have power. After checking the battery with my multimeter I accidentally contacted the terminal and the battery post and the car got power. The battery was only a few years old and in good condition. I cleaned the post and the terminal with a wire brush, bolted it back on tight and never had the issue again. I'm still surprised that despite having solid contact it didn't work.

Also, the car was getting Warragamba sized pools of water in the back when it rained. My initial concern was another rust problem. But when I went out on Weds while it was raining and while I had no headliner in I could see a steady stream of water coming through the roof mounted aerial. As this aerial is for the (now removed) car phone I pulled it out and whacked a blanking grommet in the hole. It seems fine now. I'm thinking I might get the hole permanently filled when the rust is fixed.

Moving forward and things in progress;

The tailgate needs some attention. I have taken all the trim off to clean it all and address some small rust spots. I have partially done all of this but I'll finish it up hopefully this weekend. As all the trim are now entirely devoid of trim clips I have bought a heap of strong velcro and I'm hoping it does a good enough job as any of this trim in good condition is super expensive and usually in Europe as we dont have many of the wagons here.

Suspension and brakes!!!

This is exciting. In the front;

• New control arms
• New sway bar links
• New lower Eibach springs (the only modification I'm planning on this car)
• M Sport shocks (these came with the car and will replace the longer shocks in the car)
• New top mounts
• Used 540i calipers (stock brakes suck!)
• New 540i disks and pads (22x296 mm for 528 and 30x334 mm for 540i)
• New front wheel bearings (thank all that is holy for bolt on bearings!)

Annnnd in the back;

• New control arms
• New sway bar links
• Adjustable air suspension arms (fool the car into what the current height is so the self levelling suspension can match the new front ride height)
• New ball joints

I'll also be doing a brake fluid flush while I'm in there.

I'm planning on switching the car over to the 16's that came with it so I can clean up and respray the M Sport 17's. They've lost a lot of colour over the years and have some gutter rash.

None of this will start until the E90 is back.

[soviet_merlin]

It's amazing how well the works on the leather seats. Looks mint.

Looking forward to see how you go with the wheels. They do suit the car! Gutter rash is easy to fix, but I'm curious about getting the colour done.

[PranK]

27 minutes ago, soviet_merlin said:

It's amazing how well the works on the leather seats. Looks mint.

Looking forward to see how you go with the wheels. They do suit the car! Gutter rash is easy to fix, but I'm curious about getting the colour done.

The leather work properly stunned me. Again, I am thankful that the leather was in such good condition. I'm not sure what the indent is at the top of the passenger seat. Like somebody was sitting in it with a golf ball between their shoulders.

The wheels are more grey than silver now and missing a lot of gloss. 

Here's one with nice silver wheels.

[GTSBoy]

2 hours ago, PranK said:

I'm planning on switching the car over to the 16's that came with it

These going to fit over the big brakes? I'd be reeeeeeeeaaaall hesitant to believe so.

[Kinkstaah]

@PranK can you elaborate further on the Colorlock Dye?

The website has a lot of options. I'm sure you've done all the research. I have old genuine leather seats that I have bought various refurbing creams and such, but never a dye.

Any info on how long it lasts? Does it wash out? Is it a hassle? What product do I actually need?

Am I just buying this kit and following the steps the page advises or something else?
https://www.colourlockaustralia.com.au/colourlock-leather-repair-kit-dye.html